


Maintenance

by karakael



Category: GaoGaiGar
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-30 22:39:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6445105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karakael/pseuds/karakael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Renais must undergo her monthly maintenance session, and J is disturbed by what he sees...and causes an interplanetary incident in the process.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maintenance

“Taiga!” The scream snapped out across the recently recreated Main Order Room. “That bastard Soldato has kidnapped my daughter!”

Commander Taiga put down his coffee, careful not to spill a single drop, and also careful to protect it from Doctor Liger as he rampaged past on his scooter. Trapped as they were in an unknown part of the galaxy, who knew when they would be able to find more coffee. He would never waste a drop of this rare reward…even in the case of an apparent emergency such as this.

“Liger. Come down here and explain!” He called up to the flying man, trying not to let irritation reach his voice. They’d gone a week without a major disaster, after all. They were about due.

But Liger could not be calmed. “That- That _monster_ is even now doing horrible, hideous things to my precious daughter. She could be dead by now! Or worse!” 

“Worse than dead?” Hyuuma ducked under the Order Room door. “And its only 9 am. You get started early, Liger.”

“It’s J! He’s kidnapped Renais!”

Hyuuma glanced over the now sobbing scientist’s head at Taiga. “Did she perhaps want to be kidnapped? You know those kids and…”

“NO!” Liger wailed. “It was nothing like that, though now…oh no. My poor baby girl!”

Taiga returned Hyuuma’s skeptical look. That “baby girl” had recently blown an entire asteroid field apart with the Reflector Beam, laughing all the while with vicious, bloodthirsty glee. The body-builder likely had a point; it was highly unlikely that anyone could ‘kidnap’ Renais Cardiff-Shishio without either her consent or a hell of a fight.

Taiga sighed. “Liger, please. Just explain what happened.”

“It all started yesterday…”

\--------------------- 

“Deep Maintenance?” J prompted, confused. 

He and his partner were standing on the deck of the J-Arc, overseeing the packing of the last remaining 3G equipment. Now that the _Ameratsu_ was finally habitable, there was no need for anything more than a skeleton 3G crew to remain on the Arc. 

J wasn’t sorry to see them go. He had found he preferred humans at a distance of about a hundred yards; close enough to communicate and exchange pleasantries, but far enough away that their incessant chatter didn’t drown out his thoughts.

The one exception, of course, was Renais. She had made no motion to remove her things from the tiny bunk Tomorro had fixed up for her, far away from the bustle of the main 3G emergency quarters.

Neither of them had mentioned the notable lack of her things on the last transport to the 3G ships. To say anything might invite an explanation, and it was so much more comfortable to leave their relationship undefined. It meant that J did not have to consider why, of all the humans of 3G, only Renais slipped past his sensors and existed in blessed silence, a dull hum in his J-Jewel that was a comfort rather than a grating irritation. Nor did Renais particularly want to consider her reasons for feeling more at home on the alien ship than she ever had on Earth. 

Still, she had to return to _Ameratsu_ eventually.

“Yeah. I haven’t had a full maintenance check since leaving Earth. Papillion – “ Her voice wavered for a moment and J resisted the temptation to place a hand on her shoulder. “Papillion gave me some general repairs, but nothing like the maintenance I need whenever I’m seriously damaged.”

“Like the damage you sustained fighting the Sol Masters.”

Renais nodded.

A tech manhandled a particularly large bit of cargo into the space-walk stretching from the deck of the J-Arc to the 3G base. J brooded as he watched it leave.

“Why have you not been given maintenance yet? The mecha have all been undergoing repairs since the _Ameratsu_ was opened.”

“It’s a bit different for cyborgs…and a bit different for me.”

J turned his gaze to his partner. Her line of sight was roughly the same as his; staring at the techs; but her thoughts were elsewhere, and a hand was clenched tight over her G-Stone.

“Evolver Guy and his partner have been recuperating in Galeon.”

“Well, they’re a bit different too. I need cyborg maintenance, not Evolver maintenance.”

Tomoro chirped in. “But Renais-chan, the maintenance rooms were repaired over a month ago. It was one of the first things to be opened back up! Commander Taiga insisted on it. Shouldn’t you have been the first in?”

The female cyborg sighed. “Usually, yes, but there were a lot of people who needed new cyborg implants after what happened in the Trinary System. They had enough supplies for five new GS-Rides…and twelve people who needed them.”

The AI added for J’s benefit. “I helped with that! I redesigned everything!”

“You gave out Red Planet Specs?” J said, his voice tight.

“Oh no, just fixed all their Green Planet designs.” Tomoro hastily corrected itself. “You wouldn’t believe how badly they misinterpreted some of Cain’s designs; crossing energy feeds and incorrect emotive receptors and…well, the list goes on. I fixed that right up! But, Renais-chan, you didn’t answer my question! Why weren’t you there? Dr. Liger said the rooms were for you!”

Renais snorted at the mention of her ‘father’. “The old man may have designed the rooms with me in mind, but everyone else needed their prosthesis a bit faster than I did. And it wasn’t as if I could be in the same room with another GS-Ride. It’s too dangerous. So I’ve been managing.”

J considered this while Tomoro and Renais continued bantering back and forth, both about the new prosthetic designs and her tardy maintenance. He, too, had been putting off a long maintenance cycle, but for him all it required was a few long nights of sleep, which he had made sure Renais had been getting. He’d never considered that she might need something more. If she was malfunctioning she had been hiding it well. 

“As it stands now, I can’t leave the J-Arc without being a danger. And I couldn’t go under maintenance until Hansen’s modifications were done and holding. But he was the last one, and they haven’t had any crises for a whole week – it should be safe to shut down the wing for a day.”

Both J and Tomoro refocused on her words. But it was Tomoro who spoke. “You keep on saying that it’s too dangerous…but why? _Ameratsu_ is plenty insulated; you won’t burn holes in the floor, even without the Arc draining your heat.”

J blinked. He hadn’t realized that Tomoro had been protecting Renais all this time…but then again, that would explain where the extra power to repair the ship had been coming from. How much else had the ship and the female cyborg been doing that he wasn’t aware of? It seemed he wasn't the only one that found the human’s presence comfortable.

“I…” Renais trailed off. “It’s complicated. You just have to know that I’ll be out of commission for tomorrow, maybe longer. So I can’t go on patrol with you.” 

She looked away, and Tomoro beeped unhappily.

“Volfogg can do tomorrow’s patrol.” 

Renais glanced up at J, her face carefully blank. “What?”

“Volfogg. His ship is sufficiently repaired and is capable of doing patrol. I would be free to assist you with your maintenance. To offer…” He searched for the unfamiliar words. “…emotional support.”

Renais stared at him, face still unreadable. But beneath her placid surface her emotions flared and J felt the backlash through his J-Jewel. An instant of fierce joy…followed by inexplicable shame. Abruptly, she turned away. 

“Fine. I guess you’d want to see it some time. Procedure starts at Oh eight hundred. But I’ve got to prep.”

And she stalked away, leaving J completely lost as he stared at her back. 

“…was it something I said?” Tomoro asked, worried, disappointment clear in his voice. 

J was about to respond, when he felt Renais leave the ship.

It should have been a simple thing, stepping from the ship into space, but he felt the transfer like a blow. Suddenly the sensation of her, the ever-present feeling of her G-Stone and the calm pulse of her heartbeat, was gone, leaving him gasping as if he had received a blow. In her wake was a hollow emptiness, the eternal echo of his J-Jewel echoing out, only to receive no answer in response. 

Back on Earth the sensation had been normal, familiar. On the entire planet there had been only one other J-Jewel and Arma’s cloaking was strong enough that even Tomoro could not always sense it. J had become accustomed to being alone, making his separation from Tomoro at the hands of the Sol Masters bearable. He was used to silence, his J-Jewel sending out pulses of energy that ever expanded, never echoing back with an answering stone or jewel. It was why he found humans so claustrophobic; they interfered with his energy-sense and returned distorted signals.

But Renais...her stone had answered his, communicating in wordless energy and allowing them to fuse together. He was a fool to think the connection had dissipated simply because he no longer felt the intensity of the battle-energy. With all the humans on his ship he had overlooked the calming energy her G-Stone exerted. 

That was what Tomoro had been drawing on, filtering her heat through her Stone and turning it directly into energy. The AI had recognized what J had been too preoccupied to feel, the lingering connection between her Stone and the Arc…and by extent his own J-Jewel. 

And now it was gone, cut off almost completely as she left the ship, leaving that aching chasm in its wake. Yes, he could still feel her, but muffled by the vacuum of space and further silenced by whatever emotion had caused her to leave.

_“It hurts.”_ Tomoro complained on his and J’s private channel. _“What did we do wrong?”_

Helplessly, J stared after his partner. He had no answer.

\------------

He was nearly late to the operation. When Renais had said “8 am” he had assumed that was when the procedure would begin. Instead, it was when the rest of the technicians arrived. She had been in the maintenance dock for over two hours by then, inspecting the premises, checking the shielding, and changing into the barely modest garment that allowed the technicians to get to whatever bit of her anatomy that needed repairs.

When he saw the grim expression on her face, J immediately tried to enter the room, only to be stopped by a white haired woman who looked half terrified of him.

"No one's allowed in. S-sorry." Shrinking, she pointed the way to the observation room, separated by so many layers of heat-proof glass that J could barely feel his partner's Stone. "It's too dangerous. You can wait here."

It was hard to turn away, hard to leave Renais behind in that frigid room, no matter what it would have done to his systems to wait in there. The first tech assured him that Renais knew he was there and passed over a headset connected to the room speakers. It did not make him feel any more comfortable as he waited and watched Renais pace.

The two techs, Vivion and Vito, introduced themselves while waiting for Dr. Liger to appear. Both were young, barely older than Renais herself, and seemed terrified of J. If he remembered, these two were some of the first to leave the J-Arc when _Ameratsu_ was reopened and neither had indicated any desire to return. Most of the technicians apparently preferred being able to repair a machine from the outside rather than taking orders from within its body. 

Renais was nothing like that. She and Tomorro were fast friends, so much so that the ship was still brooding over her loss and keeping constant watch through J’s eyes on the whole maintenance process.

“Of course, we both were rescued, just like Cyborg Renais.” Vivion was saying when Liger appeared, ten minutes late and humming. He balked at the sight of J, but shrugged and dodged around the alien to set down his tools.

“Vivion has the same neural pathways that I do.” Renais explained over the crackling intercom. “But hers are far more advanced.”

“Thanks to 3G, of course.” Vivion continued, smiling sadly. “I was lucky to be rescued so soon, my parents had never anticipated that ‘mystery cure’ would end up as nothing more than glorified torture.”

“But now Vivion here has some of the best hands in the business!” Liger chimed in, placing his repli-coffee on the console and patting the white-haired woman on the shoulder. “Lucky we got you, eh?”

Vivion nodded, relaxing now that there was someone else sharing the observation room with her and the stoic Soldato. Vito, another 3G member who was originally from Chausseur, was already in the heavy-duty thermal suit in the maintenance room, setting up the various equipment they would need for the operation. 

“So!” Liger said, cheerfully. “Now that everyone is here, shall we get started?”

J blinked. Three people? That was all of Renais’s repair team? The thought seemed impossible, given the rudimentary equipment in the maintenance room and the lack of even basic regenerating technology. They didn't even have enough for a Red Planet Field Medic kit, and yet -

Liger seemed to sense his confusion. “Can’t have any more than we need, y’see? It’s too dangerous. Less people, fewer people to get hurt.” Then, assuming this made any sense at all to the Soldato, he turned back to Renais. “How ya feeling, sweetie? Gonna trust your old man this time?”

Renais settled back into the chair and nodded curtly. In response Vivion flipped a switch and started the cooling fans.

“Alright then. Vito? If you wouldn’t mind plugging in the first tube…”

The suited figure nodded. With Renais’s coat undergoing its own repairs elsewhere, regular humans had to be very careful around her. J could see how the exaggerated motions grated on Renais’s nerves, but she said nothing as the first tube was screwed into her Gauntlet.

A light lit up on the console in front of Vivion. “Seal secure. Begin drain?” The question was directed at Liger. Vivion did not even glance up from her screen to Renais.

“Go ahead."

"Draining G-Liquid now.”

Lights flickered around them, and J started, realizing what they were doing. Green liquid seeped from the gauntlet and he was halfway to the door before Liger had caught his arm.

"J. It's part of the procedure. She's fine."

J considered kicking the old man out of his way. Renais wouldn't like it. Then again, Renais was consenting to this travesty, so perhaps she had truly gone insane.

"Look, she has to be immobile for the techs to work on her." Liger continued. "It's to protect everyone. She understands."

"Y-yeah." Renais's voice buzzed over the speakers, grim and tense. "J, don't worry about it."

J ground his teeth. All of the 3G cyborgs needed the G-Liquid flowing through their 'veins' to move. To remove it meant that there was no passage for the energy of the G-Stone...leaving them immobile and at the mercy of whatever passing monster could do. But it was near impossible to drain G-Liquid, only happening in extreme circumstances...and yet here Renais was letting herself be tied down with no protest.

"See? She's used to it. Next we'll disengage the Gauntlet, and it'll be safe enough to finally work on her."

The ice that had begun to form at the edges of J's vision suddenly fractured. "You are removing her gauntlet."

"Yeah, taking the G-Liquid isn't enough, unfortunately."

"That...that is her power source. Without it..."

"Aw, don't worry, the room is plenty cold. The tech won't get burned, Vito is good at this."

_Hang the tech_ J wanted to say. _You have only been speaking of the danger to everyone else - what of Renais, in there and helpless to whatever you do...  
_  
But he said "She doesn't trust you."

Pain flickered across Liger's face and he turned away. "Well, it's not like she has much choice, does she?"

"Gauntlet disengaged." The tech said. "Ready to - oh no."

Suddenly the G-Stone on the detached Gauntlet flared, blanketing the room in green. Monitors screamed, and Liger was at the com instantly.

"Renais! Renais you can't do this! It's too dangerous. Calm down. Calm down please!"

The girl nodded ridged in the chair, eyes tightly closed. 

"I - I'm sorry." Her voice wavered, and J could barely keep himself from going to her. Then she bit her lip and forced words out. "I - I'm scared, papa." 

Around them the machines quieted. 

"Good, good." Liger said. "It's fine to be scared. We don't need you to fight it. You _shouldn't_ fight it."

J looked at the man as if he was insane. _Tell a soldier not to fight?! How_ **dare** he - 

"I - " Her body was frozen, immobile, but her eyes glanced towards the window. "I'll try to keep it under control. Please don't - "

But then she caught sight of J, frozen in anger and helplessness, and the monitors screamed again. This time, they didn't stop, and around the room wires began to glow and spark. 

Liger swore, following the arc of his daughter’s eyes, and turned to J. "I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to leave. I should have never allowed you in here in the first place, knowing how she - "

"No." Steel was in his voice. "I don't understand what you're doing, but it is wrong."

He turned and brushed the tech aside and strode into the room. What ever they were doing, whatever this 'maintenance' was, it was barbaric and putting his partner in distress. Hang whatever danger everyone was so frightened of; Renais needed him and one did not let a soldier go into battle alone. And they forbid her to fight...the thought burned hot in his throat and he barely registered the freezing cold when he forced the doors open.

"J!" Renais said. "You shouldn't be in here! You might - I might - "

"They are telling you not to fight. Why?"

Helpless, she tried to look away, steam and the scream of monitors surrounding her, but without the energy of her Stone she could barely shift. "Because I'm broken. I create too much heat, and the GS-Ride regulates that. But..."

"But that means that it's always working." Liger's voice came over the intercom. "And it can overload and fry all the systems around her. So get out of there, Soldier, before you - "

But instead J reached out and grasped her remaining hand. "I don't understand. Why won't they let you fight?"

And in answer, the answer fell into his head. 

_Courage._

Of course. The girl who had been ripped apart by Bio-Net was terrified of what the technicians and scientists could do to her. The memories of it poisoned her nightmares and colored every thought. She never, ever wanted to be in that room again, watching as the people with power over her spoke as if she wasn't there...or if she was just a malfunctioning tool.

But maintenance was necessary. Even if she didn't fight, even if she pretended to be the normal girl her father wanted, she still was a danger to everyone around her unless she returned to that room of horrors.

And so she did, faithfully, trying not to complain, and remained silent as she went once more under the knife, trying to believe the promises of her father and the technicians that this time would be the last, this time would be better, this time they could control her...

And around her, machines overloaded and screamed, her G-Stone overwhelmed by the courage it took for her to submit, again and again, for the greater good, to her deepest nightmare.

Because of that, they had to cripple her each time she went into maintenance. And each time they took more of her power away, and each time she tried to balance fear and courage, not knowing how to accept the one and give up the other. And the techs and the scientists spoke of her as a problem and a danger and as a frustration that needed to be fixed....

Just like the monsters at Bio-Net, the very people who had made her like this.

"No." J repeated again, pulling Renais off of the bed and into his arms. "No. I will not allow this." 

It broke him, feeling that from her, even as the rest of the techs babbled about no, no, it was too dangerous, the cyborg was a threat to the ship, the room, all other G-Stones...

He didn't care. His world shrank, tightening down until all that existed was the shaking burden in his arms. 

"There's no other way." She whispered miserably, still not looking into his eyes, still looking away.

Shame radiated from her, and he was still lost. Why? Why was she submitting to this? J had seen Guy's bay, seen the comfortable bed and casual chatter between him and his partner. Why was Renais any different?

And why wouldn't she believe in him?

"The cyborg is right." the scratchy intercom said. "You don't think we tried half a dozen other options, right at the beginning?"

He didn't ask for the memory, but it bled over anyways: familiar faces doing test after test, angry murmurs turning into shouts, not listening to her desires, trying to unmake what she had become.

Disappointment, shame, the G-Stone had picked up on all the emotions that had hung around her in that first 3G room. Her father's anger at himself, hidden behind chuckles and teases, the disgust from the techs, hidden but sneaking out whenever they found a new bio-net modification.

_And what must he think of me?_ The thought was heavy with the tinge of despair. _Now he's seen this, what I am, how I cannot control it, how I will never be strong enough..._

"Oh, Renais." His voice broke, and he pulled her close. _Why do you distrust me so? Can you not see?_

See what a waste it was, to take that burning soul and chain it to an imperfect design. What a crime, to suggest that such courage was anything less than heroic. Yes, he was angry, but never at her. The rage that cooled now was directed at the scientists and techs who were just as bad as BioNet in their way. 

At least BioNet had never said they were doing this for her own good.

"No more." When he spoke it came out with an echo, his second set of vocal cords humming from another's input. It was not only him making the promise, but Tomoro as well, the AI just as appalled and angry at what he had seen through his partner's eyes, refusing to let the woman he now viewed as sister continue to suffer. 

"Tomoro will repair you from now on." It was a statement, directed as much at Renais as the techs. "And we will redesign your designs so this never happens again."

"J, you don't have to - "

"I do. _We_ do. I will not let them clip your wings like this. Not to you. Not because your strength is too strong. I will not squander your potential like these fools."

Feebly she tried to resist, tried to convince him that he shouldn't go so far for her...but he would have none of it.

_You are already a warrior. Join us - join me - in becoming a Soldato._

And then they were gone, flashing from the room at the speed only a cyborg could summon, leaving behind the still-sparking wires, a bundle of tubes slashed in half, and a stunned repair team.

\----------

"See?!" Liger complained, replaying the tape again. "That creature destroyed my lab and absconded with my daughter!"

Taiga sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Relations with the Red Planeters had never been easy, especially with Guy out of commission, but things had been going well for the last few months. Given J's occasionally downright condescending attitude, it wasn't a surprise he'd made so few friends in the time since they'd escaped the Trinary solar system, despite all he and Tomoro had done to help 3G get back on their feet. 

But this...this was a mess that he didn't have time for. 

"Entouji, call up the J-Arc, please."

"Er - "

"Is there a problem, Entouji?"

The tech guru swallowed and looked uncharacteristically glum. "Well...we haven't been able to hail the Arc for the whole day. Everyone just assumed it was 'cus we'd finally moved all our stuff out, and they were, I dunno, reorganizing or something. " 

Taiga's eyebrow skyrocketed. Perhaps Liger was not over-reacting as much as he seemed - 

"Call them again. This time, patch me through directly to Tomoro."

Entouji nodded and returned to his console. Since Mikoto was still comatose they had rewired her com into his station...but it was still strange to turn to the wiry man every time one wished to make a call between the various ships of the new armada.

"Ah! I got something!" Entouji smiled slightly, and looked back to his commander. The young man's smiles had been few and far between these last few months, and Taiga mentally reminded himself to give the grieving man more things to do. Coordinating the ships seemed the best medicine they had on hand. "You should be able to talk now."

"Very well. Tomoro-0117. I need to speak with you." Taiga started.

"I'm not talking!" The peevish voice of the AI snapped back, echoing throughout the Order Room." And we're not giving Renais-chan back either! Not after what you did do her!" 

Apparently Liger was right. _Damn._ Taiga though, but said. "At least let me talk to her, please. We all want to know she's alright.."

There was a computer snort, but the line went silent for a moment then reinitialized, this time with picture. 

Renais blinked at the camera. Oh, wow, it does work!" She looked just as she had earlier that day, damaged coat hanging over her shoulders, slightly less scuffed and rumpled, but comfortably sitting in a blank void and looking none the worse for the wear.

"Renais?" Liger interrupted. "Sweetie? What have they done to you?!"

There was a pause, as if from a communications lag, despite the fact that the Arc was still close enough to touch hulls with the _Ameratsu_. Renais's image froze and blurred, then resolved again.

"Sorry, talking like this is just weird. I'm fine, Dr. Liger. I apologize for my partner's rash behavior...apparently he doesn't deal well with seeing his companions suffering." 

Privately, Taiga couldn't blame him. They had been trying for years to make Renais's maintenance sessions less horrific, and every time there seemed to be progress there was a setback like this one. First Eric's death, then Porcauto's, and after that degrading power-relays, Bio-Net infiltration...that Renais stalwartly continued to turn up was just as much proof of her place in 3G as anything else she had ever done. 

And if J, Tomoro, or the facilities on the Arc could somehow ease that horror...

"It's necessary!" Liger yelped. "If that bastard - " 

"No! It's not!" Tomoro interrupted, popping into frame next to Renais as a glowing eye. "Not at all! I'm repairing her right now, without any of that stupid power-draining! So leave us alone!"

Renais patted Tomoro lightly, calming him. while the 3G crew looked perplexed.

"You're in repairs...now?" Hyuuma finally prompted.

A guilty look shot across Renais's face. "Uh, yeah. I didn't want to freak you out before, but this is just a projection, like the ones we used to send Arma off. Tomoro is showing me around the Arc's systems while he and J have me under in the med-bay."

This did not comfort Liger in the least. "Show me what that reprobate is doing to you!"

Tomoro and Renais shared a glance, and Renais shrugged. 

Once again the image fuzzed and resolved itself, this time showing a completely new room of the Arc, one that must have been shuffled into the walls during 3G's occupation. 

But now...the room was small, built on the regular Red-Planet design aesthetic of simple hexagons and triangles. The walls pulsed with dull red light, and the whole room was dominated by a triangular tank filled floor-to-ceiling with a translucent pink liquid. 

Renais's physical body was suspended in that liquid, still wearing the 3G maintenance suit, though it was slowly being eaten away by whatever the pink liquid was. Tubes ran from the various ports on her shoulders and gauntlet, but it was clear that they were secondary to whatever work the liquid was doing.

Beside the tank was a triangular table, set with circular controls and dials that were apparently unnecessary with Tomoro in control. Soldato J was sitting there, head pillowed in his arms, wings attached to a different set of monitors, looking dead to the world.

An ethereal reflection of Renais appeared next to him and smiled fondly. "He was due for maintenance as well, but they decided it was more important for Tomoro to get a better look at my internals." 

"But you - you're trapped!" Liger complained.

"Not really. See?" A line of concentration formed on the simulated Renais's brow, and in turn the real Renais shifted in her tank and opened her eyes for a moment. "If necessary I can get out. Though it would be a shame to bust up such an amazing system." She said the last quickly, as Tomoro chirped in horror. "I have no intention of leaving until I get a clean bill of health!"

Stunned, Liger sat back on his hover-board. "but you...You'll let them do that to you?"

The simulation cocked her head to the side. "Tomoro is only doing a diagnostic for now. The repairs will wait until later, and I promise to run all the upgrades past you when he finishes the design."

Upgrades? Taiga saw the mix of affronted pride and scientific curiosity on Liger's face. But he still protested. "But, Renais, your G-Stone..."

"That?" Renais pointed to her gauntlet, now reattached."Tomoro is monitoring it but we haven't had any surges that the gel can't handle. Tomoro says we might even be able to feed some energy to the _Susanoh_ if my connection remains stable."

She paused, and leaned towards the hypothetical camera. "I know you're worried, papa. But here...I'm not a danger to anyone. No matter how scared I am, J and Tomoro can handle it. And this...its nothing like what you or BioNet did to me. It doesn't even hurt yet!" 

Taiga couldn't help but wince at her surprised but happy smile. For a nineteen year-old to be surprised that a medical procedure wasn't excruciatingly painful...no wonder the Red Planet survivors had reacted so violently to her normal maintenance. No one but Renais could have consented to such a thing over and over again. But now she had another option...

"Liger, if this is true, perhaps you should leave the Arc to handle this in the future."

The doctor's mouth worked, his eyes narrowed at the screen. Finally he turned away. "Fine! But I want to see all of those specs the minute you get them! And I want to see this medical bay of yours, if it's as nice as you say!"

Tomoro chirped begrudgingly. "Renais said you'd say that. If that's what it takes to keep her here, then okay, I'm sending them over. But! you're not allowed to take her away again! Promise!"

Liger sputtered and was about to respond when Taiga laid a calming hand his shoulder and gave a rough squeeze, enough to spark the scientist out of his emotional reaction. Liger opened his mouth...and closed it, expression shifting from irritation and affronted posturing...to the kind of quiet, fast thought that had made him brilliant as a politician as well as a scientist.

Finally his spoke again.

"I...I can't make that decision. It’s Renais's choice where she stays. If that means with you..." he sighed. "Fine, I'll accept it and won't blow you out of the sky. But! If you ever - "

"Make her feel like you did? You can' bet we won’t!" The ship snapped back. Then the floating eye snapped closed and disappeared, ending the argument with the perceived upper hand. 

Liger sputtered as Renais chuckled. Then the female cyborg turned back to the 3G crew.

"Now that you know everything is fine..."

Taiga sighed. "You may return to your...tour. Please leave communication channels open this time."

The female cyborg nodded then flashed a salute and ended the call, all before her father could interrupt again. Perhaps she had known that the instant Tomoro sent over the specs Liger would be at Entouji's com, eyes narrowed and stylus already drawing up new designs, completely forgetting his daughter's earlier peril in favor of a new challenge. The man had the attention span of a puppy in a flock of pigeons. 

Taiga bit back another sigh and sat down, finally able to enjoy his coffee, the first minor crisis of the day dealt with. Only ten more seconds until...

"Mr. Taiga!" A tech dashed in the door. "The whole third floor is flooding! And the hydroponics bay is loosing power! We need - "

Taiga rolled his eyes and set his coffee down once again. One sip before chaos struck again. A new record.


End file.
